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Tech Tip: Manually Capturing a Freeze Report on macOS
PRODUCT: 4D | VERSION: 20 | PLATFORM: Mac
Published On: August 18, 2025

When 4D or 4D Server becomes unresponsive (i.e., freezes or hangs) on macOS, capturing a diagnostic report can help identify the cause, such as stuck threads, resource issues, or code bottlenecks. This is often referred to as a "sample process" or "spindump" report. Unlike crash reports, which are generated automatically on termination, freeze reports must be captured manually while the application is still frozen.

Using Activity Monitor

  • Open Activity Monitor .
  • In the CPU tab, search for "4D" or "4D Server" and select the unresponsive process (may show as "Not Responding").
  • Click the gear icon (or "i" icon in newer macOS) in the toolbar and select Sample . Enter admin password if prompted.
  • Let it sample for ~10 seconds; a report window will appear.
  • Save the report as a .txt file (e.g., "4D_Freeze_Report.txt").


Using Spindump in Terminal For System-Wide Hangs/Freezes
  • Open Terminal .
  • Find the Process ID (PID) by running: ps aux | grep "4D". Identify the PID for "4D" or "4D Server" (second column).
  • Run: sudo spindump <PID> 10 -file ~/Desktop/4D_Freeze_Spindump.txt, replace <PID>with the actual number. Enter admin password when prompted.
  • Wait ~10 seconds for spindump to complete. The report is saved to the Desktop as "4D_Freeze_Spindump.txt".